


"Death Note: A Deadly Love Story"

by esmeybe (brooklynisosm)



Category: Death Note (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Angst, Cursed, Light doesn't understand feelings because he's a little bitch man, M/M, Melodrama, Romance Novel, The day I write smut is the day I die, but nothing Mature actually happens lol, rated mature for gratuitous kissing plus language plus mentions of sexual activities
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:26:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26052640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brooklynisosm/pseuds/esmeybe
Summary: "As the two men become deeper entrenched in their cat-and-mouse game, Light must make a devastating decision: continue his path as Kira, or kill the only man who’s ever made him feel alive."
Relationships: L/Yagami Light
Comments: 8
Kudos: 82





	"Death Note: A Deadly Love Story"

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a Patreon challenge from Svattii and Mishkali: write a death note short based on an overdramatic, wattpad-esque romance novel cover. 
> 
> Here is my take. Enjoy, you gremlins <3
> 
> It's been brought to my attention by a friend of mine that I accidentally made this... kinda... good? So while reading, just pretend it's being performed in the most overdramatic voice possible in order to make your reading experience more of the mood I was going for. Also, when Light pushes L into the wall, I imagine a full YEET.

The following is an excerpt from  _ Death Note: A Deadly Love Story.  _

_ Steal his heart… or stop it?  _

**Back of book summary: Light Yagami is perfect in nearly every way. Good grades, good looks, good personality. Yet with excellence comes boredom, and Light’s life is extraordinarily dull. When a “death note”, a powerful and mysterious object, is dropped to him from a death god, Light takes it as a sign that he is meant to be something more. With the power of the death note, he plans to become Kira, the god of a new world.**

**But there is something standing in his way, in the form of the world’s greatest detective. An eccentric genius with a mysterious past, L is the only person who’s ever matched Light’s intelligence. As the two men become deeper entrenched in their cat-and-mouse game, Light must make a devastating decision: continue his path as Kira, or kill the only man who’s ever made him feel alive.**

**CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE**

“Stay,” L had said, before Light could escape. They’d caught Higuchi. The game should have been over. 

Apparently, L still wanted to play. 

Three in the morning now. L had been hunched over his laptop for hours, only moving to shove sweets into his mouth or type with two fingers, a chicken plucking at seed. Light couldn’t help but watch him. In his more lucid hours, he’d figure out what L was typing from the pattern of his keystrokes, but in the dead of night, it felt less important. Less immediate. 

As Light watched, L stifled a yawn with one hand, then reached over and took a piece of Pocky from the bag, placing it delicately between his lips. Almost like a cigarette, Light thought. L was slowly poisoning himself, but with different vices than smoking. Sugar, and Light. Too much of either could be his doom. 

His face was illuminated by the bluish glow. He could be dead already. He was so pale, and so tired, his dark eyes glittering, his mouth always in motion. He could be an angel. That didn’t make sense. Nothing made sense anymore. 

“What is it?” L said, not taking his eyes from the computer. 

“Huh?” Light said, intelligent as ever. 

“You’ve been staring at me for approximately five and a half minutes. Is there something wrong?” L’s gaze flickered to him for just a second. Light hated it when L looked at him. It was like L was trying to peel all of Light’s layers away until he reached the core. Each glance was another skin gone. 

“Nothing,” Light said. His voice came out rougher than he meant it. “Nothing’s wrong.” 

L plucked another Pocky from the bag, holding it between two fingers, presenting it to Light. “Do you want this?” 

For one stupid second, Light considered leaning forward and eating it from L’s hand. These late nights were getting to him. “No,” he said. 

L’s owl eyes studied him. Light could imagine his thoughts.  _ Would Kira like Pocky? Would Kira say no? What is Light’s game here?  _ It was another test, just like everything else, just like all the time they’d spent together… 

“We should go to bed,” Light said, unthinking. 

L leaned forward. “ _ We _ ?” 

Light remembered then. The handcuff was gone. 

“ _ I _ should go to bed,” he corrected. “And… you should too.” 

“Too much to do,” murmured L. 

“ _ Too much to _ — we caught Kira, L. He’s gone. What could you possibly be doing?” 

“He’s not gone.” 

“What are you talking about?”

“You’re right here in front of me, Light.” 

L’s voice was dark, his eyes burning into Light’s soul. 

Light opened his mouth, then closed it again. 

“You really still think I’m Kira?” he said, almost a whisper. “After all we’ve been through?” 

“I know you are,” L said. “More than I’ve ever known anything.” 

Light wanted to feel rage. He wanted to want to kill L, because L never stopped, because L never quit. Because as long as L was alive, Kira would never be what he was meant to be. 

He stood up, going through the motions of anger. “Why?” he said, not really a question. “Why can’t you accept that I’m not Kira? Why can’t you just let it go?” 

“Because I  _ know you _ , Light.” L rose from his chair too, with his awkward grace, standing nearly at his full height. Though he still stood shorter than Light, Light felt somehow small. 

Kira was a god. Kira did not feel small. 

“You don’t know anything about me,” he spat. 

“I know everything about you,” L said, stepping closer, his voice almost robotic. “I know the way you think. I know the way you act when you think no one is watching. I know what scares you. I know what amuses you. I know you have the capacity to feel, because you feel something for your family, however slim. I know—” At this, some unknown emotion broke his stoic tone. “I know you better than I know myself, sometimes. And I  _ hate it. _ ” 

“That was your choice.” 

“Not really. Once you are in someone’s head, it is very difficult to be rid of you.” 

“You think it’s easier to know you?” Light retorted. “Your brain is infuriating, you know that? Everything you do is infuriating, and  _ nothing  _ I do is GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU!” 

Only L could make Light lose his temper like this. This passed briefly through his mind. He knew he shouldn’t break his cool. 

He was too tired, now, to be reasonable. 

“You’re right,” L said. “I wish you were better.” 

“I wish you would leave me the fuck alone.” 

“I know,” L said, and though his voice was quiet, it was more frightening than a yell. “I know what you think of me, Light. I’m not blind.” He took yet another step closer. “All this time, you’ve been wanting to kill me. Waiting. Every moment of every day, even when you didn’t know what you really were, there was a part of you burning to put me down. Isn’t that right?” 

It slipped out before Light could stop it. “How did you—” 

“Like I said,” L said, with a sad little smile. “I know you. When we were handcuffed, you were… different. Dormant.” He paused, thinking. 

Light clenched his fists, feeling his fingernails dig into his palms. The pain was sharp and bracing. “And what am I now?” 

“Ready to erupt,” L said. 

“I’m not that sloppy.” 

“You’re less in control than you may think.” 

“I’m always in control!” Light roared, slamming a fist down on the desk. “You can’t beat me, L! I will always win!” 

L only stared at him, his tragic smile nowhere near his eyes. He laughed, once, low in his throat. “Of course, Kira.” 

Light growled. “You have no right to laugh at me.” 

“I just called you Kira, and you answered as if it were your name,” L said calmly. “The joke writes itself.” 

A primal rage rose in Light, one that had him slamming L against the wall. L made a sound of surprise or pain as his back made impact, and Light knew he’d knocked the wind out of his foe. 

“I hold more power than you can even  _ imagine,”  _ Light said, his nose centimeters from L’s. 

“Then why don’t you use it?” L asked, as quiet as ever. He tilted his head to the side, baring his throat in some primitive gesture of submission. “Why don’t you just kill me?” 

“I can’t.” 

“You can’t, or you won’t?” 

“I can’t, and you know why!” Light’s body was hot all over. How did L do this to him? He’d broken. He’d admitted it. L _ knew _ . 

But L had always known. 

“I hate you,” Light said, under his breath, more to himself. “I hate you. You ruined my life.” 

“Yes,” L said, looking up at Light. 

“I want you to die.” 

“I know.” 

“I think about you,” Light said. “All the time. How you’ll be when you die. How much you—” He clenched his teeth. “You drive me crazy.” 

“I am the only person who’s ever been smarter than you,” L said. Light could count his eyelashes. 

“You’re not smarter than me,” Light said. “There’s a lot of things you don’t know.” 

“I doubt that very much.” 

“You have no idea what I want from you.” 

“You want to kill m—” 

Light kissed him. 

The kiss wasn’t nice. Light didn’t know how to kiss nicely, especially where L was concerned. It was like punching L in the face. The moment of exhilaration, the moment of relief, the moment of fear. It was almost the same. 

L made a choked-off noise against his mouth and stiffened, a frozen shock. Then his lips parted. It felt like surrender, but Light knew him better than that. Everything L did was an attempt to get the upper hand… everything… 

Light deepened the kiss. One of his hands fisted against the wall over L’s head, and the other came to rest around his throat. He could strangle L. L would let him do it now, Light was sure of it. L had all but collapsed against him, kissing back with the same intensity he did everything else, chocolate and strawberry on his tongue. Light could stab him in the back or cut off his airway or break his neck and L wouldn’t do anything anymore. 

L’s heart beat fast and strong and hard. Light’s thumb found the pulse at his throat. 

He could destroy that heart, stop that pulse with a few pen strokes. 

L wrapped his arms around Light, gripping his shirt with those nimble, bony hands. He laughed breathlessly into Light’s mouth; dreadful exhilaration. He felt so alive, alive,  _ alive _ , living more every second of their embrace. L was coming to life beneath his touch and Light wanted to kill him. 

Light wanted to—

He broke the kiss with a gasp. 

L’s eyes were closed, his lips slightly parted. 

“So this is your move,” L said. 

“Why do you think everything I do is a game?” Light whispered. He didn’t trust himself to speak out loud. 

“Because it is,” L said. He laughed again, without humor. “Perhaps you mean to have Misa Amane kill me so you don’t have to. She seems the jealous type.” 

Light had forgotten about Misa. 

“Perhaps,” he said instead. 

L opened his eyes. His hands gripped the back of Light’s shirt, their bodies pressed flush together. “Will you miss me?” 

“No,” Light said. 

“You’ll be bored with me gone.” 

“I don’t need you, L.” 

“You don’t want to kill me,” L said. He pressed his forehead to Light’s, the tips of their noses brushing together. 

Light laughed cruelly. He felt everything bubbling over— loathing and longing mixed together, poisoning his mind. “Why the hell would you think that?” 

“No one else can match you move for move,” L said, and kissed him again. 

The volcano erupted. 

His hands moved from L’s head to his hips, pulling L up. L went willingly, jumping into Light’s arms and wrapping his legs around Light’s waist. For the amount of sweets he ate, L weighed very little; he felt almost delicate against Light. 

They somehow made it to the couch. Their kiss was just another battle, just another step in the war that had waged since Lind L. Tailor gripped his heart and fell twitching on TV. That was what Light told himself, trying not to get lost. He had never put much thought into intimacy beyond what was necessary to achieve his goals; kissing Misa was a means to an end. Kissing L should have been that too. And yet—

“Kira,” L said, when Light kissed under his jaw. He made a noise that sounded a bit like a sob. “ _ Light _ .” 

All this time he’d been scheming for the best way to get to L’s heart. 

He never once had thought he’d lose his own. 

Light would lose no matter what. 

“We should go to bed,” he said, an echo of his past self, a Light that could not help but put his hand into the fire. 

L stared up at him once more. 

“I’ve never—” 

“Me neither,” Light said. 

“Not even with your dear Misa?” A hint of bitterness that Light didn’t miss. 

“I never wanted her,” Light said, his own intensity a shock. “Not when I could feel your eyes on me.” 

“Hmm,” L said, undoing Light’s tie. 

“And you?” 

“I’m the world’s greatest detective and I have been since I was thirteen, Light. I have very little time for entanglements of that kind.” 

“So why now?” Light asked, placing his hand on L’s throat once again, feeling the pulse point with his thumb. “Why me?” 

“I told you,” L said, closing his eyes at the touch. “You are my first friend.” 

“I’m your worst enemy.” 

“Yes,” L said. He undid the buttons of Light’s shirt. “I couldn’t stand a boring friend.” 

“You’re insane.” 

“I’m not the one here with a god complex.”

Light tightened his fingers on L’s neck. “I hate you.” 

“I know,” L said tiredly. He lowered his head as if in prayer, pressing a kiss against Light’s throat. Light shivered. 

“Let’s go to bed,” he said again. 

“I suppose we can continue this investigation there,” L said. 

They were so tangled up in each other now, still chained by their souls if not their wrists. Killing L would kill a part of Light, too; a Shinigami’s love in the mind of a man too painfully human. 

Light rose from the couch, pulling L with him. Then, like everything, Light took his path to the bedroom, and L followed, step by step, move for move. He’d never escape. 

The game would play on. 

**Author's Note:**

> If anyone enjoys this, I may write another "chapter" of this "book" from L's perspective. 
> 
> Thank you for reading my trash!


End file.
